Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
Thursday 11th - Sunday 14th October 2012
All quiet on the feathered front!
Thursday 11th October
Well, at least where I am it is! Shetland and the Scilies are having a smashing time. I've not been far this week so I decided on Thursday afternoon to go down to Fairburn Ings [not my favourite reserve but perhaps I'm unjust]. Camera at the ready I hoped for kingfisher and willow tit. Over ambitious I'm afraid but anyway I got what follows. Captions unnecessary for the birds and this fellow.Vermin?
I haven't managed to see a tawny owl or a little owl this year but this chap looked very smart as did his friend, Mr. Frog. Photographed from a distance and then cropped they look good!
From Pickup Hide:
Not too keen on bird feeder pics but sometimes you can get good images near feeders or even, as in this case, crop the feeder out of view.
Policeman's helmet, Himalayan balsam, Bobby Tops, Copper Tops, Gnome's Hatstand, Kiss-me-on-the-mountain, Poor Man's Orchid, Ornamental Jewelweed or impatiens glandulifera is a super plant to find when out for a walk with the kids. The explosive seed capsules give a real shock as they burst between your fingers. And what a great collection of common names! Latin provides the universal standard. If you find a white form it should be treasured and the seed picked...although it is often considered an invasive menace - like the grey squirrel. So that's two invasive menaces so far today!
Teasel heads dipsacus fullonum were once used in industry in textile processing, providing a natural comb for cleaning, aligning and raising the nap on fabrics, particularly wool. It differs from the wild type in having stouter, somewhat recurved spines on the seed heads. The dried flower heads were attached to spindles, wheels, or cylinders, sometimes called teasel frames, to raise the nap on fabrics or to tease the fibres. Unusual image of a teasel head!
Hedge bindweed or calystegia sepium merits a better, more flattering name - it is a pretty flower and I have tried to do it justice below.
Saturday 13th October
Trying to make something happen! I decided to head north and then follow the pager. To an extent this worked quite well. On Hartlepool Headland I saw 2 fresh-looking warblers [probably willow] and a black redstart in the memorial gardens. Guillemots on the water. I walked the area until the pager announced a paddyfield warbler north of the Tyne tunnel at St. Mary's Island, Whitley Bay. I hummed and harred for a few minutes, asked TomTom how far it was and set off north. Traffic was light and I was soon in the car park. I headed over to the twitch - it was obvious where the scopes were lined up. Those same accursed bushes where I never saw the greenish warbler a month ago.
Well, I never saw the paddyfield [would have been a lifer] either! Saw some robins! But eventually did see the other reported bird, my second ever Blyth's Reed warbler. A good tick.
Sorry, folks. I didn't take a single picture all day.
Sunday 14th October
I had decided on Friday, in view of predicted wind directions which never materialised, to go north on Saturday and then to Spurn on Sunday squeezing a return visit to New Swillington Ings via the new entrance from Station Road, Mickletown if I could find it - all dependent on whether Barry was coming on one of the days. Unfortunately he couldn't make it so I'll save that trip for another time. The slavgreb will probably linger over half term!
So Spurn it was and I arrived by 7 o'clock!! All quiet and it remained so. Several coach parties of birders hoping for an autumn extravaganza must have been a little disappointed.
I wanted some images for the blog so I spent time photographing things I've often thought of taking but hadn't time to waste. Today, it seemed, time was available. For instance rather impressive longhorn cattle are now grazing the Triangle fields.
At the Canal Scrape three jays were flying around. I had never photographed a jay and I'm afraid my first efforts are nothing to write home about!
If ever there is a special prize for photos of departing birds or rear views I must have a good chance of some success! The jays flew off...
Spurn was just too quiet. There may have been a bearded tit heard along the canal or a couple of choice pipits 'over' but there was little to see once the tide had gone out and the waders had become pixels once again. I decided to leave with no obvious agenda. I stopped to photograph the remains of a level crossing west of Patrington. The line closed in 1965 and there is no sign of the trackbed looking east along what was once the Hull & Holderness Railway to Withernsea.
I saw some smart yellow daises still in full flower [smooth sow-thistle sonchus oleraceus].
Bathed in sunlight, St. Patrick's Church in Patrington looked splendid now it has no scaffolding around the steeple.
I've always though it looks impressive and it was no surprise to learn that the church, medieval and Grade 1 listed, is known as the Queen of Holderness.
Patrington is on the Greenwich Meridian. This means that everything east of there is not in the Far East [because we know where that is] and it's not in the Middle EAst [because there are no endless wars and terrorist squabbles wrecking Holderness!] so it must be in the Near East!
The two photos put it more clearly.
Patrington's Black Mill in the background.
The marble slab shows how the Meridian presents a natural boundary for the Holderness and Spurn peninsula. Yet it is all meaningless really - just a line imagined by man. It doesn't really exist at all!
So you thought this was a birding blog! Well it is, but I like to wander off topic now and then. It looked sunny over the Humber in North Lincolnshire and it was starting to rain as I approached Hull. [Why don't they call it Kingston? That sounds so much more up market than Hull!]
Wonderful Worlaby
Once over the Humber bridge I headed for Worlaby to see if the owls were back. None had been reported but I suspect the local birders don't bother and there had been a good number of 'shorties' along the east coast in the last few days. Unfortunately I realised the rain was following me relentlessly. As I arrived it showed its hand. A kestrel sat miserably in the trees. I listened to Classic FM and then to the album Old Ways by Neil Young.
Coal trains rattle by in the rain.
Eventually the rain cleared and the sky brightened a little. Soon I could see up to 3 short-eared owls. One was being mobbed by a crow.
Eventually one bird, a pale form, came closer.
I began to walk towards it as I had a feeling it was going to land on the fence. The other birder didn't seem to notice.
Hey! I'm over here!
I walked closer all the time. Wished I was in the car rolling slowly along. Too late for that.
If you've never been, try it on a cold, bright afternoon after 2.30pm. You may have to wait a while - or you may not! Park at the roadside beyond the trees anywhere down to the railway line. SE 993126
2012 Uk 270
26th September revision
How wrong can one be?
Wednesday 26th September I was in the car park at the Crown & Anchor at Kilnsea near Spurn. I photographed what I think was a spotted flycatcher on the wire that crosses the grassed area behind the pub. Hopefully [although I am becoming increasingly unsure of myself!] this is a spotted flycatcher:
This was taken according to the info recorded with the image at 11.44.14. The bird flew off and I photographed one of the robins also present. Just over two minutes later at 11.46.58 the bird returned and I photogrpahed it again:
I'm afraid I assumed that it was the same bird back on the wires! But it's changed into a pied flycatcher!! How clever of it...
Thanks and apologies to James Thomas in particular and also to Pete Mella for putting my lack of judgmernt back on the right track. Sorry folks! [Hope I've got it right this time...]
And therefore I saw three different flycatchers in the car park that day. Not bad, eh?
Chris
Thursday 4th - Sunday 7th October
So that's how it all started!!
Just to set you thinking.... See the children in the photo? Well the boy in the school cap is yours truly. Why on earth is he/was I wearing it? Photo taken in Chester in 1957 by my dad. I intend to set up a folder of his Lake District photographs in the near future: I've been cleaning up his slides with the Adobe Photo Elements 6 software. They are very spotty many of them but otherwise pretty good. Taken with an early Exakta SLR. Anyway here, as I said, is how I started birding 55 years ago aged 7! I think the slide has done well to still be this good after over half a century. The ducks look pretty Heinz 1957 varieties too!
Brother Tony in foreground [age 4 - now Professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Reading]; cousin Jacqui in tartan skirt largely hidden from view.
Thursday 4th October
Back to the present. On Thursday, no cap on my head this time, I went to Firsby Reservoirs in search of a putative [good word!] pallid harrier. Saw 5+ buzzards, several kestrels, a flock of up to 30 lesser redpolls passing through the birch trees around the reservoir. No sign of any harriers. Lots of swallows, a few house martins.
On the walk back in warm October sunshine I came across a sunlit ivy plant in flower. There were a good number of late butterflies present. I went back to Tiggy and put the close-up lens on.
Speckled Wood
Comma
Red Admirals
This one is a bit overprocessed but I was seeing what sort of effect I could create...
Friday 5th October
The persistent birder returned to the metal gate overlooking the set-aside field to see the pallid harrier come in to roost. About thirty birders were present. Buzzards, swallows and kestrels seen. No pallid harrier seen.
Saturday 6th October
Easterly wind didn't materialise but I went off to Hartlepool in hope of something. Micawberesque belief that 'something will turn up!'At Newburn Bridge I called in to say hello to my friend Mr. Med Gull. He was at his post on the rocks.
The black sand there does produce some nice lighting effects.
I moved on, heading for Hartlepool Headland. I strolled along the promenade in the sunshine. A feral pigeon was watching me from a pipe sticking out of the harbour wall.
Did you know that when backlit in a really good light redshanks have translucent legs!?
Offshore the drake eiders were now looking splendid at the end of their eclipse period.
Nothing really exciting to be found, I drove to Saltholme to sit in the Phil Stead hide for a while. A kestrel appeared several times but always hovered with his back to the hide! Still it's nicely focussed!!
A little egret proved the most photogenic bird present. I tried to frame it in an old fence.
For some reason it just sat down in the water and sort of lay there. I hadn't seen this behviour before. I could always claim it's a spoonbill!!
There must have been at least thirty snipe on the pool.
This one flew across the pool and landed in the water having obviously decided it was safe to have a good wash.
Eventually it flew to the nearest bank.
Sunday 7th October
Got up 4.30am. Arrived Firsby reservoir SK401955 by 6.15am. Saw pallid harrier 7.15. Light still poor only just after sunrise. Iphone photo of the sunrise and the telegraph pole I leaned against while I waited. About 25 hardy birders present.
Third time lucky! Persistent birder rides yet again!!
2012: Yorkshire 131; UK 269
Saturday 29th September 2012
Slavgreb inter alia in SY
Huh. Just discovered how to colour the text. Didn't think I could! [except hyperlinks] Cryptic title? Well a latin tag now and again is quite nice and I want you to read more to find out what I'm on about!
'Twas a blustery morning down at New Swillington Ings but I was pleasantly surprised to see new stiles and new paths inside the old tall fences I had peered through for years. Now you get superb views of St. Aidan's and the causeway. After about an hour of searching fruitlessly for the reported slavonian grebe I eventually met two friendly locals who had seen the bird a little further east. I saw lots of wildfowl and a buzzard picking a teal off the water by the head which dropped it several times and as far as I know the teal got away. Also saw marsh harrier. I had good views through the scope when the slavonian was on the surface. Which was always only briefly. Good tactic for avoiding hungry raptors!
Funny how my older books make no reference to slavonian grebes but call them horned grebes because of their fancy yellow plumes in breeding plumage which might conceivably resemble horns to the uninitiated! Slavonia is part of modern-day Croatia by the way. Not a lot of people know that.
Decided to visit a few local sites as nothing stunning was showing on the pager. Tried Fairburn from the Allerton Bywater end but the roads were closed due tro the floods. Set off for Old Moor. Photographically it wasn't a great day but here's what I took. Hope something is of interest.
A young moorhen worked his way towards the hide I was in. The light made for a pleasant shot of a bird often simply ignored.
An unidentified caterpillar was crossing the path. I wondered why a young chap was on the ground on his hands and knees. I took it from afar with the big lens. Waiting for the experts at ispot to identify it. They say it's buff-tip moth, phalera bucephala.
Golden plover were flying around above me. As they wheeled in the sunshine their undersides would suddenly flash brilliant white.
I settled down to watch the wildfowl. A male teal was now looking smart [although other ducks like shovelers were still in mid-eclpse].
I could hear wigeon whistling somewhere behind me. The more I watch wigeon the more complex I realise their plumage is.
A wagtail was paddling at the water's edge. I'm not sure which this one is... white or pied? White was reported that day.
Mallards came in for a splashdown in front of me.
Linnets were out on the mud at Wath Ings were the water was still comparatively low. Three greensands and two ruff were present but very distant. The linnets refused to turn into twite, bless them!
They would stay little more than a minute and then fly off, often landing back at the very same spot!
As i walked back to Tiggy greenfinches were feeding on black sunflower seeds on a tree stump.
Still, one very good tick today and 51 species. Probably a few more if Barry had been there with his better eyesight!
2012: Yorkshire 130; UK 268
Wednesday 26th September 2012
A wild, wet, week ahead - but Wednesday was just fine by me!
Firstly it's always nice when a birding magazine drops through the letterbox but especially so when one of my photos is published. Remember the barred warbler at South Gare?
BirdWatching magazine October 2012. Not earning a living yet!!
Wednesday 26th September - Back to Spurn!
Forgot to include this last time. Between Kilnsea and the Warren are two new mobile radar stations. Military invasion expected? Conspiracy theories abound. I saw two men by one of the things so went over to ask what they were tracking. Surprise, surprise! Tracking the arrival of pink-footed geese!!
To get to Spurn I drove through one cloudburst and a couple of heavy showers but it always looked brighter in the direction I was heading. In fact, once I had arrived the sun came out, the temperature eventually hit 18 degrees and all was right with the world. I saw robins [lots of them, presumably passing through]...
and flycatchers at the Crown & Anchor car park. All three flycatchers, pied, spotted and red-breasted. It must puzzle novice birders: the spotted flycatcher wasn't spotted...
The red-breasted flycatcher didn't have a red breast...
...and the pied flycarcher refused to pose for me. A birder said he was off to the gas terminal as a rose-coloured starling [which wouldn't have been rose-coloured, by the way] had been reported. We didn't find it but I saw 5 whinchats perched together on a fence. This birder then announced that there was a 'pg tips at the Jewish Cemetery', Hartlepool Headland. This was new birdspeak tto me. Was he talking about a tea party? Anyway with all the floods the A1 being closed another birder said the A19 would be a car park. The bird didn't stay long.
I heard about PG Tips a lot that day. It's twitchspeak for Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, certainly a mouthful. When I started birding I had to learn all these:
blackwit; barwit; gropper; slavgreb; woodsand; greensand; pecsand; comic tern; marlow tit; willowchaff; yellowbrow; spotfly; piedfly; blackstart; rouzel; LRP; yaffle; bonxie; mippit; crest and no doubt there are many others. Let me know if you want a translation!
Oh yes, the reason all those birds aren't rose-coloured, red-breasted or spotted is because they are juveniles except for the spotted flycatcher where the youngsters are the most heavily spotted.
Redstarts were everywhere down at the Point. Near the Heligoland Trap...
...on the old wartime concrete bunkers...
...and in the bushes.
Migrant hawker dragonflies abounded but never stopped still whilst common darters happily rest in the sunshie.
We found a big fat caterpillar on privet at the Point. Privet Hawk Moth? I wait for ispot to let me know. Yes, it is sphinx ligustri in Latin. Thanks to David Notton on ispot.
Whilst at the far end the pager announced a greenish warbler at the Riverside Hotel, Kilnsea. This is a bird I have twice spent hours hoping to see. I drove back along the bumpy road to Kilnsea. Lots of cars had gathered as if they had brought hungry newspaper reporters and paparazzi photographers.
Here it is, lifer 386, Greenish Warbler. Made my week!!
Very skittish and never close, the photos are not bad considering. I think the good light helped immensely.
2012 UK 267; Yorkshire 128
Life 386 Fourteen to go. Hopefully I can get to the magic 400 next year!! Fingers crossed...